Cluster 1: Text Types and PurposesArchived

This lesson introduces students to a young boy, Andy, who has autism. Students learn about common characteristics of autism and how to act when they want to make friends with a child who has a disability. The literacy standards that are included in this lesson are: asking and answering questions about text, retelling stories, demonstrating understanding of the lesson in the story, describing story elements using text and illustrations, and writing an informative piece.

Type: Lesson Plan

This close reading lesson addresses both literacy standards and the topic of disability awareness. Using the text, Be Good to Eddie Lee by Virginia Fleming, this lesson helps children understand why they shouldn't use hurtful words when talking about a child with a disability. It shows how children can learn important things from children with disabilities. Finally, it addresses the following literacy standards: asking and answering questions about text, retelling a story, determining the lesson learned in a story, identifying story elements, and writing an opinion piece.

Type: Lesson Plan

In this close reading lesson, students will analyze the classic folk tale, The Little Red Hen. They will first use vocabulary strategies to help them determine the meaning of unknown words. Students will then complete a story element graphic organizer describing the characters, setting and major events of the story. Students will also complete a sequencing organizer by retelling events from The Little Red Hen. Students will then use their story element graphic organizer and sequencing organizer to help them write a narrative retelling the story including the central message. The teacher will evaluate the narrative writing using a narrative rubric.

Type: Lesson Plan

In this close reading lesson students will be analyzing story elements using the engaging book Koala Lou by Mem Fox. Through several readings the students will increase their comprehension of the text by identifying and describing story elements, answering text-dependent questions, and making connections. They will determine the central message of the story and rewrite the ending of the story to demonstrate an understanding of the story and its elements.

Type: Lesson Plan

This is a close reading lesson that uses the book From Egg To Chicken By Gerald Legg. Students will identify nonfiction text features, answer text-dependent questions, and sequence main events. They will write an informative piece about what they've learned in the lesson.

Type: Lesson Plan

In this MEA lesson plan, students will work on their map skills while they practice collecting data in categories, representing data using pictographs, and interpreting data in pictographs to solve a problem. Students will read and/or listen to the story Clifford Takes a Trip. After discussing the story, they will then plan a trip for Clifford to visit the great state of Florida.

Type: Lesson Plan

In this lesson, students will explore what living things need to survive. This lesson utilizes a read aloud of the text The Magic School Bus Hops Home: A Book about Animal Habitats. Through this book, and a PowerPoint that has been included with the lesson, students will read about animals and their habitats and the needs of living things. Students will also determine the meanings of key vocabulary words and then write about what they've learned. A graphic organizer to help students with their writing and a writing rubric have also been included with the lesson.

Type: Lesson Plan

In this close reading lesson, the students will analyze the poem "It Fell in the City" by Eve Merriam. They will read the poem, identify words or phrases that show feelings or appeal to the senses, describe the place in the poem and add drawings to express their feelings. They will also write an opinion paragraph about how the poem made them feel after reading it.

Type: Lesson Plan

Students will listen to the poem "The Quarrel" by Maxine Kumin. They will analyze the story it tells, comparing and contrasting the characters' opinions and recording their findings on graphic organizers. They will write a paragraph retelling the story and explaining the moral or lesson.

Type: Lesson Plan

During this close reading lesson, students will analyze the text Chrysanthemum by Kevin Henkes. The students will determine the central message and gain insight from valuable lessons that enhance the character development throughout the story. The students will be encouraged to ask and answer open-ended and text-dependent questions. The students will also have opportunities in this lesson to practice other comprehension strategies such as making predictions and inferences, determining importance, and making connections to characters and text. To apply the concepts learned the students will use evidence from the text to write an opinion paragraph explaining the lesson learned and then proving that lesson's importance in the characters' lives.

Type: Lesson Plan

In this lesson, students will engage in a close reading of Howard B. Wigglebottom Learns to Listen. They will complete a story map, a character analysis, and text-dependent questions. Students will be lead to understand the change that the character makes and write to respond to an essential question while demonstrating a command of first grade level grammar and conventions.

Type: Lesson Plan

Enjoy sharing this enchanting Asian folktale while introducing your primary students to close reading. This story is filled with rich vocabulary and detailed describing words that allow students to interact with context clues and text-evidence to produce a character comparison. Students will be excited about the multi-tiered activities and extensions that will keep their interest throughout the entire lesson.

Type: Lesson Plan

This lesson allows the students to retell a story and determine the central message and key details in a text using the book The Relatives Came by Cynthia Rylant. Through several readings, the students will increase their comprehension of the text by focusing on the story elements, using key details, and making connections. The students will be encouraged to answer and discuss higher order questions to develop a better understanding of the text. Finally, the students will have an opportunity to write their own personal narrative.

Type: Lesson Plan

In this lesson, the teacher will guide the students through a close reading of Little Bear's Friend. Through separate readings of the book, students will identify vocabulary, practice identifying story elements, and analyze characters in the story. For independent practice, students will write a letter responding to the letter written to Emily in the story.

Type: Lesson Plan

Your primary students will love this magical adventure into close reading with Possum Magic by Mem Fox. This wonderful Australian folktale shares delicious academic vocabulary that allows students to interact with context clues and text-evidence throughout the story. Students and teachers alike will be charmed by multi-tiered activities and extensions that will keep their interest throughout the entire lesson.

Type: Lesson Plan

In this lesson, the teacher will guide the students through a close reading of Mouse Soup by Arnold Lobel. This will be done as a read-aloud. During multiple readings of the book, students will practice identifying story elements and will analyze characters in the story. For independent practice, students will write a narrative offering a different solution to the problem.

Type: Lesson Plan

In this lesson, students will be lead through a series of three close readings to complete a story map and answer text-dependent questions. Students will be lead to infer the story's lesson, be exposed to Tier 2 vocabulary, and be asked for written responses to text-dependent questions while demonstrating a command of first grade level grammar and conventions.

Type: Lesson Plan

In this lesson, the students will listen to the teacher read aloud the folk tale "The Little Red Hen." The students will collaborate with their teacher and peers during a close reading in order to determine the central message or lesson of the folk tale. They will also analyze the text to determine the meaning of selected vocabulary words, as well as identify story elements and character traits.

Type: Lesson Plan

In this lesson students will use the key details from It's Mine! by Leo Lionni to describe story elements, determine unknown words, and understand the central message of the text with teacher support, in pairs, and independently. Students will work to complete a Think-Write-Pair-Share, Vocabulary Graphic Organizer, an inside-outside circle to answer text dependent questions, and an independent opinion writing to show their understanding of the story's key details, characters, and central message.

Type: Lesson Plan

In this close reading lesson, students will identify and describe story elements, determine the meaning of unknown words using context clues, and retell the major events in the story Sheila Rae, the Brave by Kevin Henkes. They will identify the central message in the story and write an opinion paragraph about the main characters as they explore the concept of bravery.

Type: Lesson Plan

In this close reading lesson, students will read and reread the stories The Three Little Pigs and The True Story of the 3 Little Pigs. Students will complete a variety of activities to help them compare and contrast the two versions of the story and complete an opinion writing using the text.

Type: Lesson Plan

In this lesson, students will use What Do You Do With A Tail Like This? by Steve Jenkins and Robin Page to identify the main topic and key details using the illustrations and text with teacher support, in pairs, and independently. Students will work to complete a 3-2-1 card, a group poster and presentation, as well as an independent explanatory writing to show their understanding of the main topic, subtopics, and key details.

Type: Lesson Plan

In this lesson, the teacher will guide the students through a series of close reads of Katy No-Pocket by Emmy Payne. This will be done as a read-aloud. Through separate readings of the book, students will identify vocabulary, practice identifying story elements, and analyze characters in the story. For independent practice, students will retell the story and write a narrative that offers a different solution to the main character's problem.

Type: Lesson Plan

This is a close reading lesson using the book What Do You Do with a Tail Like This? by Steve Jenkins and Robin Page. In three readings of the book, students will ask and answer questions about the text, make text-to-self connections, and record new learning. For the summative assessment, students will gather additional information about their selected animal and write an informative paper.

Type: Lesson Plan

In this close reading lesson, students will analyze two characters from the same book, Toot and Puddle, and identify their similarities and differences. Students will compare themselves to one of the characters and write a paragraph describing their chosen character.

Type: Lesson Plan

In this lesson, students will work independently, in pairs, in small groups, and with the teacher to practice close reading of the adorably illustrated and written children's book, Mr. Duck Means Business. Through separate close readings of this story, students will practice analyzing text, determine the meanings of unfamiliar words, analyze text features, and determine the evolution of the main character, Mr. Duck. Students will show their understanding of these standards through various activities, including, but not limited to, student discourse, graphic organizers, routine writing tasks, and analytical writing. Included in this lesson are graphic organizers, thinking maps, differentiated routine writing tasks, and suggested answer keys. Your students will love this story and will have fun learning about character change, text features, and more!

Type: Lesson Plan

In this lesson, the students will listen to the teacher read aloud the fable "The Tortoise and the Hare." The students will collaborate with the teacher and their peers during a close reading in order to determine the central message/lesson of the fable as well as analyze the text for word meaning of selected vocabulary and story elements.

Type: Lesson Plan

In this lesson, students will work with the text Caps for Sale by Esphyr Slobodkina. They will identify and describe the characters, settings, and major events by using key details and illustrations. The students will retell the story using sequence and key details. They will also be able to identify the main idea or central message of the text. Finally, the students will write a narrative of the text using their own words and key details from the text.

Type: Lesson Plan

In this lesson, students will use key details and illustrations to describe the characters, settings, and events from Click, Clack, Moo: Cows that Type with teacher support, in pairs, and independently. Students will work to complete a Click, Clack, Moo flip book with a place to note characters, settings, unfamiliar words, and routine writing from text dependent questions. The students will show their understanding of sequenced events in a narrative by writing two new sequenced events in a graphic organizer.

Type: Lesson Plan

This lesson allows the students to retell a story and determine the main idea and details in a text using the book Wilfrid Gordon McDonald Partridge by Mem Fox. Through several readings, the students will increase their comprehension of the text and the central message: the significance of memories and the importance of friendship. The students will be encouraged to answer and discuss higher order questions and later develop their own opinion of the text.

Type: Lesson Plan

In this close reading lesson, students will complete activities over a period of three days to gain deeper understanding of the text "What Plants Need," asking and answering questions and identifying key details that support the main topic of the text. Students will write an informative paragraph about what they've learned from the text.

Type: Lesson Plan

In this lesson, the teacher and students will read and reread the engaging book First Day Jitters by Julie Danneberg (210L). They will identify and describe the story elements in the illustrations and text and analyze the author's use of specific words to suggest the main character's feelings. Students will write an opinion paragraph in response to a prompt about the book using text to support their opinion.

Type: Lesson Plan

In this lesson, students will participate in close reading a text about trees. They will ask and answer text-dependent questions and identify the main topic and key details of the text. They will also write an informative paragraph about what they've learned, providing examples from the text they read. This lesson provides great background information and extension activities to support learning in science as well as reading!

Type: Lesson Plan

The teacher will read the story The Mixed Up Chameleon by Eric Carle (450L) and Chameleons, Chameleons (180L) by Joy Crowley. Students will discuss the habitats of chameleons and will be challenged to create a habitat for a class chameleon.

Type: Lesson Plan

In this MEA the students are to decide what criteria is the most important for a company to consider when choosing life jackets. Students will use data tables of qualitative information to solve the problem.

Model Eliciting Activities, MEAs, are open-ended, interdisciplinary problem-solving activities that are meant to reveal students’ thinking about the concepts embedded in realistic situations. Click here to learn more about MEAs and how they can transform your classroom.

Type: Lesson Plan

In this lesson, students will generate questions about bears. They will answer questions about key details from the text, Bears, by Melvin and Gilda Berger and identify the main topic. They will write an informative 5 sentence paragraph on the topic of bears using key details from the text to support their writing.

Type: Lesson Plan

This lesson focuses on using text features to understand nonfiction text, specifically the Scholastic News Nonfiction Reader: Helping Out by Peggy Hock, 650L. The students will ask and answer questions about the text, examine the particular text features found within the text and will organize the information read in a concept map. They will then use the concept map to write an informative paragraph about ways they can protect Earth.

Type: Lesson Plan

In this lesson, the role of five community helpers will be explored. The teacher will use A Day With Librarians, 550L, to model for students how to utilize text features to better understand text and how to take notes on key details found in the book. In groups of four to five, students will be assigned a book on a community helper (A Day With Police Officers, 510L, A Day With Mail Carriers, 470L, A Day With Firefighters, 390L, A Day With Doctors, 490L). They will ask and answer text-dependent questions, complete a text feature chart, and will utilize a note taking sheet to record key details on each section of their text. They will find the main idea of each section and then utilize that information to determine the main topic of their book. That information will then be utilized to write an informative book on the job of their community helper.

Type: Lesson Plan

In this lesson, students will engage in questioning activities as they make predictions throughout the story Bad Kitty by Nick Bruel, using textual clues to support their predictions. Students will participate in other making prediction activities to practice this skill prior to writing an opinion paragraph stating their prediction of what will happen at the end of the story.

Type: Lesson Plan

In this lesson, students will listen to informational text about an animal and critique a sample informative paragraph by giving suggestions about how to improve the sample writing. Students will then read and write about their favorite animal. They will present and take suggestions from classmates. Students will also revise their writing through use of suggestions given by their peers.

Type: Lesson Plan

This unit focuses on using text features to understand non-fiction text, specifically National Geographic Reader: Frogs!, (ATOS 2.6, 410L) by Elizabeth Carney. The students will participate in a whole group activity where a portion of text will be analyzed for its main topic and main idea, a graphic organizer will be modeled to show the relationship between key details and the main idea, and a shared writing activity will be conducted. They will then apply the skills learned as they create their own main idea table and write an informational paragraph. They will answer questions about the text and will participate in class discussions and work cooperatively to complete a variety of activities.

Type: Lesson Plan

In this lesson, students will learn laws of the classroom and community all while determining the main idea.

Type: Lesson Plan

In this lesson, students will identify story elements. The students will also create story maps as teams and then work independently to write their own narrative stories based on the completed maps. They will edit and revise their narratives with a partner.

Type: Lesson Plan

Feeling the Fall is a lesson that incorporates fluency, the five senses, and writing all in one. Students will work cooperatively to perform a play on fall, practicing fluency, accuracy, and expression. Then students will explore the fall season using their senses, integrating science standards into academic standards reading. Finally, students will have the opportunity to write about the fall season and publish their writing using technology.

Type: Lesson Plan

In this lesson, students learn about forces on objects such as a push or a pull. Students interact with items in their classroom testing pushes and pulls. Students explore the strength of pushes through a toy race investigation.

Type: Lesson Plan

In this lesson, students will explore the stars in the sky using observations with our eyes and observations with hand lenses. Students will also explore folktales of how the shapes in the stars came to be.

Type: Lesson Plan

In this lesson students will use biographies to research individuals important to American history. The students will then create "Clue Bags" based on key details about the different individuals to present to the class with the question "Who Am I?" Additionally, the students will use the key details selected for the "Clue Bags" to write an expository paragraph about their selected individual.

Type: Lesson Plan

This lesson teaches main idea and details through the use of a nonfiction text on bird beaks. This lesson could be used in conjunction with a lesson on animal adaptations.

Type: Lesson Plan

In this unit, students will identify appropriately leveled informational text on dinosaurs and identify the key details of the text. The students will create a detail web using evidence from the text and will then write an explanatory paper about their choice of dinosaur. The students will also participate in a guided class discussion. The students will learn the guidelines and procedures for successful discussion and will also learn how to come prepared for discussion by providing supporting information from texts that have been read.

Type: Lesson Plan

In this lesson, students will identify the text features of non-fiction books and use several informational texts on meat-eating plants to answer text dependent questions. Students will become "text detectives" and learn how to use the text to find the evidence to prove that their answers to questions are right. The students will learn to use evidence from informational texts to write explanatory paragraphs.

Type: Lesson Plan

This lesson teaches main idea and details incorporating a science lesson on liquids.

Type: Lesson Plan

In this lesson, students will examine character development by analyzing the events of the book Chrysanthemum (460L). They will develop questions before, during, and after they read and will participate in a close reading activity in which they will analyze the illustrations, the text, and make inferences based on both. They will also examine how the events of the story impacted the main character's feelings and will write a journal entry retelling a portion of the story and describing the author's message.

Type: Lesson Plan

In this lesson, students will present their opinion through drawing, writing and speaking. Students will enjoy discussing their favorite animals, pizza and cake. Students will learn about self-expression and the different ways to present their opinion.

Type: Lesson Plan

This is the second lesson of a two-lesson unit utilizing the book Jamaica and Brianna (390L) by Juanita Havill. In this lesson, students will ask and answer questions about the text through a game, and will then write a letter from the perspective of Brianna, retelling important events in the story and describing the central message.

Type: Lesson Plan

In this lesson, students will review two versions of The Three Little Pigs as they identify and describe the characteristics of the wolf character. They will then complete a Venn Diagram to determine the similarities and differences in the wolf's characteristics. Students will complete a writing assignment stating their opinion of the wolf character, supply a reason for their opinion, and provide closure.

Type: Lesson Plan

In this lesson, students will work with two texts, Starfish by Edith Thacher Hurd and Discovering Starfish by Lorijo Metz. They will ask and answer questions about key details. They will also identify and retell key details about starfish. They will be able to compare and contrast the texts. The students will also be able to distinguish between information from pictures and information from texts. The students will write an informative paragraph about starfish.

Type: Lesson Plan

This lesson teaches main idea and details incorporating a science lesson on matter.Teachers will utilize a KWL chart to help assess students' background knowledge, as well as what they want to learn, and what they have learned at the end of the lesson. An informational text entitled What is the World Made of? All about Solids, Liquids, and Gases will be used throughout the lesson. As a summative assessment, students will write a summary which identifies the main idea and key details from this text.

Type: Lesson Plan

This lesson focuses on using text features to understand nonfiction text, specifically the National Geographic Reader: Polar Bears, by Laura Marsh, ATOS level 2.6. The students will participate in a lesson utilizing a PowerPoint presentation explaining text features. They will answer questions about the text, take notes to answer specific questions about the text, and will use the notes to write a paragraph about polar bears. They will participate in class discussions and work cooperatively to complete a variety of activities, including identifying the main topic of the informational text.

Type: Lesson Plan

This lesson teaches the concept of main idea and details and writing informational/expository text using science content on solids.

Type: Lesson Plan

This teaching idea describes a project called Fruit and Vegetable Mystery, which is a set of note cards created by first grade students. The cards include a written description of a fruit or vegetable on one side and the name and illustration of the corresponding fruit or vegetable on the other. The cards were created as a final product for an expedition on plants and soil.

Type: Teaching Idea